I first heard of The Capstan Shafts way, way back when my friend over at Beat The Indie Drum had his netlabel in full working order. The EP was called Halaluah Moancoaxers! and it opened my ears up to a whole slew of tiny, independent releases that Dean Wells has been releasing under this name for years. The EP is still available if you're interested: right here. So this led me to stumble across the tons of concise, brilliant albums he's released, all of which are consistently mindblowing. It was so awesome when just a few years later I started to see Environ Maiden pop up everywhere, from Pitchfork to some record stores I frequented at the time; I even saw it in some tiny record shop in Austin. Here's a guy from Vermont that no one's ever seen play live or met or even seen a picture of that's been recording albums for years and all of a sudden he skyrockets to popularity and starts playing shows. So it is a bit weird to see someone who went from being a complete enigma to putting together a 5-piece band and launch on a tour this year, but I am totally on board for this one. For most people, myself included, it will be a first glimpse into Wells' intensely personal music on stage. His latest album, Revelation Skirts, is a must for anyone who likes GBV (and I'm assuming everyone does) and The Gerbils. It's the first time that he's had any sort of full production, all of the previous albums are glorious lo-fi bedroom masterpieces, whereas this is clearly a studio production. It's a staggering change from his other works sonically, but it still retains that Robert Pollard feel, and lovely guitar riffs with enough changes to satisfy even the most intense ADHD.

Listen to some of his stuff on the myspace, and check out this awesome video for "She Makes Amazing Look Stupid" cut together by a fan:

The Backyard Committee

The Backyard Committee is a local collection of musicians headed by Mike Sembos. They have released their first album, a self-titled release. I just did a writeup of it right here, so read that and then report back. You can hear it for free by hitting play below:

Fatal Film

Fatal Film is from New London and plays straightforward catchy powerpop - distorted guitars, brash lyrics, and powerful rhythms. Chances are you've seen these guys, as they play a hell of a lot of shows, and really know how to fill a set. It's good to see them back in action after all the shit that Matt Potter had to deal with. You can stream everything they've released at their bandcamp site: